


Keep it straight, keep it tidy, strike when down

by TheMaskedShadow



Category: Divergent Series - Veronica Roth
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anger, F/M, Help, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I am out of control, Not Canon Compliant, Sorry Not Sorry, The Author Regrets Nothing, Violence, really - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25923643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMaskedShadow/pseuds/TheMaskedShadow
Summary: What if Peter hadn't tried to throw Tris off the chasm with Drew and Al? What if he had saved her? What if things were different?(Is the same as the book, just it diverges after the chasm scene)
Relationships: Peter Hayes/Tris Prior
Comments: 3
Kudos: 29





	Keep it straight, keep it tidy, strike when down

Peter heard her from around the corner. Late night walks diffidently didn't help him one bit with coping with the pain from training, but it kept him away from the other initiates, the competition. He'd seen the door open and close, but he hadn't seen who went in or out. It was a vague shadow on the blank wall in his mind. He had too much on his mind to care.

It was muffled screaming now, not the full blown screams it had been. He knew her screams. She woke up screaming more than once, just like the rest of them. One of the reasons he omitted himself from the group. He didn't wake up like that.

"Let me go!" He heard her say. She shouldn't have to say that. Even he knew that you don't treat a girl- even stiffs- like that without their permission. Yes, he does beat her and others up in the ring, but that's when he has to. 

He turn the corner, wary and ready, as usual. She's being forced over the chasm. He knows it. He'd heard Molly and Drew saying something about it earlier. He doesn't know why he didn't do something then, but then again, it was _Molly and Drew_. They never did anything unexpected or bad, unless they had to or Peter told them to.

He sees her foot slip, he acts. He doesn't think, he just does. His fist collides with Drew's short frame. He falls to the ground and knocks into the bigger one of the three. The big one, he sees the eyes. _Al,_ her _friend_. He knows why he's doing it though. He doesn't want to finish last. He doesn't want to be a _failure._ Peter'd had his own fair share of doubts and worries like that. He knew how overpowering they could be. 

Al raises his hands and nods at Molly. Peter understands. He's asking to help. Asking so that Peter won't tell her. 

They take her together. Molly falls back at the strength of both Candor boys and hits her head on the rock.

Tris doesn't seem to have registered who helped her. That was how should've stayed. Peter would've been okay with that, more than okay, in fact. He didn't need her thanks or anything. He didn't need anything from her. She was nothing to him.

 _So why did he help her?_ It flashes through his mind like a flickering lightbulb in a closet. It's there, but he doesn't register it. And then he does.

"You okay?" He asks her, stepping towards her tentatively. 

Her eyes widen, she doesn't trust him. That was to be expected, however. He hadn't exactly ever proven that he deserved her trust. Unless you count being the one to carry her to the med-bay the first time he fought her in the ring and she was unconscious. But, again, she was unconscious. She wouldn't know that. Course she wouldn't. 

He was vaguely aware of Al slipping away, most likely back to the bunk room. Peter's okay with that. He was okay. So was Tris. That was okay. Possibly. Depended on his standing on the score board really. 

"Tris?" He asks again. She looks up at him this time. She's still breathing hard.

"Why?" She asks.

He shrugs at her, "You needed help."

She narrows her eyes at her, they're alarmingly blue. "You don't have any reason to help. You don't _gain_ anything from it."

She was right of course, he didn't gain anything from helping. Well, except maybe, just maybe, gaining her help further in the future. Yes, favors. That was what he was good at. Arguing, fighting, and favors. He just has to play his cards right. Poker. Keep it straight. Keep it tidy. Strike when down. 

He ended up throwing his cards out the fourth floor window when she asked him to walk her back. 

He raises an eyebrow at her, "You sure you _want_ to go back?" 

She nods, "Why not? I'm not sleeping tonight anyway. Nobody is _ever_ getting their hands on me again."

Peter grins, that's the attitude. Keep it straight. Keep it tidy. Strike when down. Poker.

................

The next day...

"Hey, Tris, so did you get beat up or something? Was it Peter? I'll knock him down a peg if you want!" Christina tells Tris jokingly.   
Tris shakes her head, "No, just extra training." 

Peter walks up at that very moment, plopping down next to her. 

"Ah!" Christina yelps. "Where'd you come from?!" She looks around, looking for Molly or Drew no doubt.

Peter smirks and picks up a bite of food with his fork, "Hell."

She narrows her eyes and sends him a fake smile, " No doubt. "

His smirk fell, however, upon seeing Tris. Her face was bruised. A whole lot worse than it had previously looked the night before. Why hadn't he noticed? He cursed himself, he shouldn't care. He didn't. He played his brother's words in his head again: Keep it straight. Keep it tidy. Strike when down. Poker. Simplicity. 

He eats his food as quickly as possible and stands just as Four walks to take his place. Peter doesn't fail to notice the slight tensing on Tris' side. She had relaxed when he and sat. Tensed when he stood. Funny, was one way to put it. Since when did the stiff get comfortable around him?

He shakes it off as he walks away. Step down, Paul had said, don't show weakness, but let them think they're the ones in charge. Don't overdo it. They'll run. He decides to do just that.

..............

At training later...

She can't look anyone in the eye. Always has an arm around Chris, Will, or Al. Peter noticed that. Noticed how she manages to look cool and collected, yet broken and beaten all the same. It's... intriguing to say the least. How did a stiff of all people learn to stay like that in Abnegation? They don't. 

He watches and waits. For what, he doesn't know. Probably never will. 

"Peter! In the ring. Molly! Now! " Eric calls. 

Peter grins to himself. Molly sure did seem a little on the hesitant side about fighting him again, after last night. 

He lets her take the first swing. She can't balance right. She must have hurt her head a little worse than he thought. 

He grinds his elbow into her back. She falls. He looks at Eric.

Eric raises an eyebrow, "well?"

He looks down and smashes his fist into her skull, knocking her out. But, one thing catches him by surprise. For the first time, Peter... hesitated. He doesn't get that. He never hesitates! Why then did he? Paul. Keep it straight. Keep it tidy. Strike when down. Poker. He takes a deep breath and swallows his doubts. He's still in second. _Second_ , he scoffs at the thought.

........

Peter can't tell where he went wrong. 

"Peter!" she calls. He turns. 

He could've stayed indifferent. No. He couldn't. He remembered her face in his fearscape. They'd pushed her off and he couldn't do anything about it. He made his choice then. 

Four had turned his back on her after she gave herself up to Erudite. said she wasn't worth it if she was just going to throw her life away. She had escaped with Peter. Peter had helped her. He's knew what it was like to feel like you were worth nothing. That he had to do what he could to protect everybody. That nobody would miss him if he was gone.

Now, they were going to take on Erudite headquarters. Destroy it. Kill Jeanine. they could do that, right?

He couldn't help but realize at that moment that not all of them were coming out of this alive. But he be damned if she wasnt. He would make sure she'd make it. He didn't save her the first time for nothing after all.

"Yeah, stiff?" He looks at her with a raised eyebrow. 

She stops in front of him and smiles, a true, genuine smile. "Find me afterwards, okay? I don't want to have to hear that your dead from somebody else."

He blinks once, twice, three times. He'd do anything for her at this point. 

She just have been thinking along the same lines, because the next he knows , she's standing on her toes, her lips pressed to his. 

She walks away and he licks his lips, watching her go. Yeah, he'd diffidently do anything for her. He found Four glaring at him, but Peter didn't care. He just put his mask back on, going to join the masquerade. 

One more time, he told himself his brother's words: Keep it straight. Keep it tidy. Strike when down. Poker.


End file.
